so 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[jAu. g, 1904. 
Fish and Fishing. 
■ i i$p^' . — ■ 
Tcmcod F shing Tbr ugh the Ice. 
Ttte tomcod has made its appearance in the St. Law- 
rence at Qiiehcc, as usual at this season of the year, an-i 
a number of the ordinary wooden fishing shanties or huts 
are Ijeing erected upon the ice at the mouth of the St. 
Charles for the accommodation of the anglers who en- 
joy the fun of catching the little fish through the ice of 
thb river. The sp'ort, if such it can be called from the 
standpoint of the scientific angler, lasts usually for a 
month or six weeks. It is much enjoyed by holiday visi- 
ters 10 Canada who come here to participate in our wi>'- 
tei- sports and pastimes. Considering that it is only 
offered in the dcfiih of the C:inadian: winier, and upon the 
surface of the frozen vvater, it is attended with very lit- 
tlt discomfort. 'I'he interior of the fishing hut or shanty 
i.- partially floored with wood, and fur rugs are supplied 
for preserving the feet from cold. There is also a stove 
for healing puri)oses, and sometimes for cooking as well. 
Chairs and tables necessarily form a part of the furnish- 
ings. Most of these fishing parlies are held at night, 
when the guardiin of the estai)lishment, who is also the 
clu'f de cuisine, seldom misses the opportunity of sei'ving 
up a savory boiled dish, formed of alternate layers «.{ 
sliced potatoes, salt pork, sliced onions and tomcods, 
s] iced with a variety of herbs or condiments. It is esscn- 
tirilly a Canadian dish, and, like the ragout oi hoV.yi 
or Slewed partridge, hare, salt pork and onions, with 
which hunters in the northern woods are so familiar, 
makes quite an appetizing meal. 
The fishing is of course done through the floor of the 
fishing shanty. Holes are cut through the thick ice for 
the dififerent anglers of the party. Fishing rods are dis- 
pensed with. 'I'he lines are fastened to bars laid across 
the fishing holes, and if the biting is not very brisk they 
are left to take care of themselves and only visited at 
certain intervals, various other forms of entertainment 
varying the sport. Several hooks are attached to each 
line, the usual bait being small pieces of pork or beef. Thz 
fish are usually from six to twelve inches in length, and 
offer very little resistaiice when hooked. Their flavor is 
delicious when freshly caught, being but very little in- 
ferior to that of the cod, which means a great deal more 
than those readers may siippose who have never tasted 
the broiled steak of a codfish fresh from the sea. 
The true Ailaniic tomcod with which we are now 
dealing, must not be confounded with the fish which is 
known by the same name ofT the coast of Connecticut. 
The so-called Connecticut tomcod is the true kingfish, an 
altogether difl"erent species and a much larger and more 
gamy fish. 1"he delicious little M icrogadus tomcod pos- 
sesses three dorsal fins, and in the country parts surround- 
ing the . Bay of Fundy is often called frost fish, pre- 
sumably because it is most abundant there in the early 
part of the whiter. Here, however, there is rooin for 
more confusion in nomenclature, since "frost fish" is the 
name commonly applied in the Adirdndacks to the deli- 
cately shaped Cotrgonus qiiadrilatcralis. or round white- 
fish. Of course there is nothing whatever in common be- 
tween these two fish, unless it be that both of them make 
their appearande in greatest numbers after, the coming of 
the first frost of the season, 
']"he Pacific namesake of the Atlantic tomcod is a much 
more graceful fish in appearance than the other. . Not 
only is it slirnmer in shape, but its body is semitranslu- 
cent, and in San Francisco it is served as smelt. Upon 
parts of the British Columbian coast it is known as 
whiting. 
in the St. Lawrence smelt are often caught by those 
fishing for tomcod. 
A Lege d of Ihc Whilefhti. 
The Chippeway Indians have a legend concerning the 
origin of the whitefish which does not seem to be gen- 
erally known. It relates that this fish first sprung into 
existence at the outlet of Lake Superior, being produced 
froin. the scattered brains of a woman, whose head, for 
same very guilty conduct, was doomed to wander through 
the comnry, b"t coming in its travels to the falls of St. 
Mary, was dashed in pieces. A crane, by virtue of that 
inherent power so frequemly atributed to birds and beasts 
by the aborigines of America, instantly transformed the ' 
particles of brain into ihf roe of a whitefish, to tlie wide- 
spread' benefit of the Indian nations. 
This fish is .considered by some of the northern tribes 
of Indians as second only in iinportance, as an article of 
food, to the reindeer, hence in their language it has 
been givein the figurative name of "reindeer of the 
waters," or Adikumaig;, from adik, a reindeer, and giinKi, 
z generic name' for water, in composition. The populous 
Chipiieway tribe which originally frequented ihe Sault 
Sie Marie to feed on the vvhitefish of the lakes, were 
called, from this circumstance, "Cascade People," or 
Sauieurs, which has since been corrupted into Saulieaux. 
A New Food Fisb. 
The fishery department of the Canadian Government 
at Ottawa has beefl informed of the springing into exist- 
ence, of a new industry oil the Pacific Coast in the shape 
of the canniner of the "little fish known as the oolachan or 
eulachon. This fish seems to find its proper place between 
the smelt and the capelin of Atlantic waters. Its scales 
are much smaller and more closely adherent than those jf 
the smelt, but larger than those of the capeliii. Its body 
i- rather elongate and slender, and is less compressed than 
that of the smelt. Its length is ffom nine to twelve 
ipches. It runs in enormous quantities up all the rivers 
and creeks from the Fraser River northward, and is an 
excellent pan-fish, being unsurpassed, according to Dr. 
Jordan, by any . fish whatsoever in the delicacy , of its 
nesh, which is claimed to, be far superior to that of, the 
trout. It is remarkable for its extreme oiliness, but the 
oil :is of a very delicate and attractive flavor. The fish 
is locally known as candlefish, because v\ hen its' body has 
been dried it may be, used as a candle. As its flesh is too 
delicate and tender for carriage, it has only a local mar- 
ket, but n6w that it is reported that 'a successful means 
of prcserx-ing it has been discovered, the fishery authori- ; 
ties believe that, the venture will broaden out into- a • 
floutishing, braneh of the canning industry. The scientific 
pjime of the oolachan, h fhqlcichthys pacificm., , 
The Greenland Shark. 
A large increase in the number of Greenland sharks is 
reported from the Gulf of St. Lawrciice. For,-some years 
past they have proved a menace to the fishermen of some 
localities, but this season they appear to be niore numer- 
ous than ever. The Squa'.us borca'is, as the Greenland 
whale is called, is from twelve to fourteen feet in length, 
r.nd even more. It is very common m the northern seas. 
It is six to eight feet in circtimference and often weighs 
as much as sixjiundred pounds. In color it is a kind of 
gray. The opening of the mouth, which extends nearly 
across the lower part of the head, is from twenty-one to 
twenty-five- inches in , width. The teeth are serrated 'n 
one jaw and lancet-shaped and denticulated in the other. 
In addition to its work of destruction among the 
various food fishes, this shark is one of the biggest foes 
of the whale. It bites and annoys it while living, and 
feeds on it when dead. It scoops hemispherical pieces 
out of its body, nearly as big as a human head ; and con- 
tinues scooping and gorging lump after lump until the 
whole cavity of its belly is filled. It is so insensible to 
pain that though it has been run through the body wi^h 
a knife and escaped, it has been seen to return after a 
while to banquet again on^ the carcass of the whale at 
the very spot where it received its wotmds. The heart 
is very small, only performing six or eight pulsations in a 
minute, but continues its beating for some hours after 
having been taken out of the body. The latter, thou<jh 
separated into aiiy number of parts, gives evidence of life 
for a similar length of lime. It is therefore extremely 
difficult to kill, and even for some time after the head 
has been separated from the body, it is positively unsafe 
to trust the hand in its mouth. Yet there is no record 
of one of these sharks having attacked a : man, even 
thotigh whale hunters have frequently slipped into the 
water alongside of them. Nor do they appear at all afraii\ 
of a man^ On the contrary, they will often continue to 
feed upon a whale in full view of the hunters. On ac- 
count of their abundance in the Gulf of St. Lawrence it 
is now proposed to establish an industry somewhere be- 
low the Saguenay River on the north -shore, for the kill- 
ing .of these animals, and for the manufacture from their 
carcasses of oil, leather, glue, and fertilizers. They are 
easily captured, the fishermen iii one part of the Gulf hav- 
ing caught twenty-two of them during the past autumn 
ill the ordinary course of -their operation.s. 
E. T. D. Chambers. 
Lake Ghamplain Pollution. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
My attention has been called to communications pub- 
lished in Forest and Stream from Mr. J. B. Burnham 
and another anent the much discussed and writtten about 
pollution of Lake Champlain by pulp mills. 
It is plain from the character of the letters that the 
two persons to whom I allude have been misled as to the 
facts, or are acting under the influence of an adverse 
spirit. 
With an introductory of silly denial of facts which can 
easily be substantiated by any school boy living in the 
region in question, the remainder of the let'ers is taken 
up with an absurd and libelous vilification of myself and 
the beliltiement of a cause wnich iii the end will result 
in as gre^it a. benefit to them as it will to others and 
iTiysel f. . , 
In many ways it is truly amusing to read their labored 
efforts to make black assume the virginal color of white, 
that the sludge and noxious waste acids discharged by 
the mills tend to purify and clarify the waters of the lake, 
that the fish thrive in it, and that all is for the best. Mr. 
Payne, proprietor of the mill on the Boquet River, was 
quoted in the papers not long ago to the effect that he 
should be well paid for performing the noble task in 
which he is engaged. As far as I know, however, sub- 
scription blanks for the fund have not as yet been 
circulated. 
As a matter of fact I was not aware that the lake shore 
at Essex was so bad until one of Mr. Burnham's tenants 
called my attention to it one day last summer. He told 
me the other tenants h' J called Mr. Burnham's atten- 
tion to it, and I understood he was about to supply his 
cottages with water from a well. I investigated the matter 
and was surprised to find the conditions as named, but 
not as bad as at Willsboro Point. At about the same 
tiiTie Mr. S. P. Avery, several miles further south on the 
Vermont shore, called my attention to the conditions ex- 
isting there. I told him that I thought it must be impos- 
sible, but he assured me that the shores were in a very bad 
condition, and requested that he be allowed to co-operate 
in the movement. There are very f^w. people in the village 
of Essex who use the lake water. The late Mr.- Anthony , 
Ross had- often argued with me as to the unfitness of the 
lake walei" for potable ptirposes, and Dr. Swett's remarks 
are meaningless in this connection. ; 
As for the dead fish, there are only a few left to die, 
and pccasioiialry' one wanders from the depths of "Wills- 
boro Bay where the pollution is at a minimum, and prob- 
ably the "lone perch" alluded to was one of these unfor- 
tunates. Whether it were better to die poisoned to death 
by impure water or be impiliged on the hook of a. minis- 
terial sport was the question this poor perch decided by 
his death. 
The "twenty-four wall-eyed pike" that have figured in 
so many newspaper articles were probably caught; a short 
distance from the "Smith Sanitarium." The greatest 
depth of Lake Champlain (402 feet) is in this bay, and 
the fish naturally seek it as a refuge from the mill 
refuse, only, like the perch, to fall victims to anglers. It 
is a remarkable coincidence that the owner of the afore- 
said Smith Sanitarium up to last summer had always 
used the waters of the lake. This year he has put in 800 
feet of pipe to connect with the spring of his neighbor, 
while the "palatable waters" of the lake are within a 
stone's throw of his cottage. It is another singular, cbin- 
cidence that Mr. Payne, the mill owner, has his water 
brought to his cainp, at the mouth of the Boquet River, 
in larjge carboys froin Westport.; Several years ago, wrhen 
lie first occupied bis cottage ou the lake near the mouth ' 
of the Boquet River, he was taken seriously ill with ty- ■ 
phoid Jev^r. A chemist was employed, and after a 
\vill-o'-the-wisp chase he finally lo^^ted the typhoid bg,^- 
teria in a remote well, where some coW; had gone to drink 
.in quest of pure water. , 
It is_ true that I was invited to visit the mill, and the 
invitation was supplemented by one from Dr. Lewis and 
Prof. Landreth. When we started for the mill I did not 
go direct with the health officers. I took a circuitous 
route which led me by the so-called disposal beds, and- 
there I met the assistant superintendent of the New York 
and Pennsylvania Mills, industriously at work arranging 
the refuse for a proper inspection by the Albany party.; 
I was ordered to leave the premises, and my demurrer 
came_ very near being the occasion for a medicinal bath 
in this solution of calcium a la lignin, a la soda carbano. 
However, apologies followed, and the work of investiga- 
tion went merrily on. Dr. Landreth's report will some 
day tell the story. 
_ As for a few facts. When appeal was made to Attorney- 
General Cunneen on behalf of the citizens of Keeseville 
cMid certain New Yorkers who own property on the lake 
shore, an efi^ort was made to satisfy Keeseville by furnish- 
iiig a supply of water as a substitute for the lake supply, 
uhich the pulp mill men acknowledged they polluted. A 
glance at the twentieth annual report of the State 
Board of Health will show wherein it describes the Au 
Sable River as polluted by refuse and discharges from the 
pulp mills located_ on its banks. Any fair minded person 
can tell that existing conditions are even worse now than 
they were then. Anyone at all conversant with the facts 
knows that the mill on the Boquet River is daily dump- 
ing_ into it inany tons of impurities which eventually find 
their way into the waters of the lake. I have ample evi- 
dence to prove that large quantities of fish have been 
found dead, and that the rocks along the shore for miles 
in the vicinitj; of the mills are coated with a white slime 
which makes it a public nuisance as well as a destroyer of 
life. 
As the two mills are daily dumping scores of tons of 
impurities into the waters of the lake, it is a self-evident 
proposition that in a few years, unless something is done, 
the whole body of water will become a cesspool. As a 
result, quick action should be taken to preserve the waters 
that history and nature have made famous throughout 
the world. 
The mill owners say they wish to abide by the law, but 
claim that although having spent enormous sums of 
money for the purpose, they cannot dispose of the residue. 
I have talked with the leading citizens of Keeseville, and 
they are in great distress over the destruction of the 
Au Sable River, and the personal inconvenience the 
nuisance is causing them. They cannot drink the wate-, 
and the plumbing is so choked with refuse that i*- neces- 
sitates frequent overhauling. The marshes and lowlands 
about the mouth of the river are covered with a glue-like 
substance, and the action of the sun makes the place a 
stench. 
As I have said before, there is iio disposition on my 
part to throttle the mill industry or impair the value of 
any investment, or to work a hardship on those whose 
livelihood depends on' the operation of the mills. There 
is no effort to oppress anybody, but there is a very lively 
and active disposition to bring about an abatement of the 
trouble. And the trouble will be abated. 
Edward Hatch, Jr. 
Sullivan Cownty Haichery. 
MiDDLETOWN, N. Y., Dec. 26.-— The New York State 
fish hatchery at Rockland, Sullivan county, will probably 
bfe abandoned, and it is exti^emely uiilikely that anything 
more will be attempted toward the propagation of fish in ■ 
this locality. The Sullivan county hatchery has been a 
failure frona the start, every season's work, it is said, 
having been nearly a total loss. The Beaverkill River, 
which was the inducement for locating the hatchery at 
Rockland, proved treacherous, flooded the hatchery 
several tirpes a year, and remained muddy for so long a- 
time after a freshet that young trout could not be growii 
sijccessfully. 
Although the Beaverkill River is one of the finest trout 
streams in the State, and is fished annually by thousands 
of New York city sportsmen, the trout fry have to be 
brought from other State hatcheries to supply this stream. 
The failure of this hatchery is a gi^eat disappointme-nt to - 
its promoters. — New York Times. ;'■ ,■ 
Maslinongfc. 
Montreal, Dec. 28. — Editor Forest and Stream: In 
full agreement with Mr. Chambers and Mr. Cabot, 1 think 
F'oREST AND STREAM should State authoritatively that 
inaskinonge is the right way to spell the name of thi>^ 
fish. Or it might be spelled maskenoiizha, as Mr. Long- 
fellow spells it and the Indians pronounce it. It is 
Ojibway- Algonquin, with just about the same pronuncia- 
tion as maskinonge— maskeenojay. Mr. Longfellow took 
his pronunciation from an old friend and Ojibway Indian 
chief, and from Mr. Schoolcraft, who lived among them 
the best part of his life. L. O. Armstrong. 
— ^ — 
Points and Flasher. 
The American Kennel Club of New York, -Was incor- 
porated at Albany, N. Y., December 30. The directors 
are Messrs. August Belmont, of Hempstead, N. Y. ; Hollis 
H. Hunnewell, of Wellesley, Mas.; Hildreth K. Blood- ' 
good, James W. Appleton, William G. Rpckefelle'r,. of 
New York city; Marcel A. Viti, of Philadelphia, 
Gouverneur M. Carnoclian, of Riverdale-on-Hudson, "N 
Y., and William B. Ehiery, 6 f Boston. . - " ' 
_^e premium list of the Westminster KenneL Club's - 
2§m annual dog show, Madisoti Square Garden, New 
York, February IO-I3, can be obtained gi the superin- . 
tendent, Mr. Jatnes; Mbttimet, 1123 ^^rOcf^way. Entries 
close Jatluaty US. The •special; prizfe list is long anc^ 
YaltaaWe. ; ; '■ . , I „ 
